Tales of a clumsy esper
by 1458
Summary: Ghost hunt, starting from the beginning, in which Mai is Naru and Gene's childhood friend and is aware of her abilities.
1. Ghost Hunt -1-

**Ghost Hunt**

* * *

**Day 1**

There was a rumor that if you told ghost stories, the spirits will arise from curiosity. While these spirits were usually hidden from the naked eye, it was possible to trick them into appearing. One such method was to alternately tell ghost stories in the dark, turning off our flashlights after we were finished and counting the number of people in the room afterwards.

I switched off my flashlight after I was finished my story. Keiko and I turned to the final person. Michiru nodded before beginning. "This is a story about the old school building."

"The building behind this one?" I whispered.

"Yes. The building was supposed to be demolished after this new one was built but they were forced to stop half way because of…" Michiru paused for dramatic effect. "A curse. The curse caused a student's death, a teacher's suicide and a dead child."

A curse? Well that's interesting…

"When they tried to demolish the west side, the roof fell through the second floor, killing everyone on the first floor." She continued. "Then they tried to take down the gym, but tragedy struck. A driver lost control of his truck and killed some students on the volleyball court. And once… my upperclassman walked by the building late at night and saw… a bright figure pressed against the window, staring right down at her!" The flashlight abruptly turned off. I jumped slightly at the sudden darkness. A bright figure by the window?

"…Let's start…" Keiko began. "1."

"2." I continued.

"3." Michiru nervously finished.

"4."

Michiru and Keiko screamed. "KYAAAA THE GHOST IS HERE!"

As for me… I groaned silently as the lights were turned on. "…Naru…"

"Sorry for interrupting." Naru flashed one of the most forced smiles I've ever seen. "Mai, I was looking for you. It's getting quite late and you didn't pick up your cell."

I blinked. 'Didn't pick up my cell' my ass, you narcissistic jerk. You didn't even call me.

"Oh, you're a friend of Mai's?" Keiko and Michiru walked closer to Naru, blushing madly. I sighed inwardly. Great, Naru's ego increases by 2 points. Meanwhile, Naru was trying to keep reign on his two newest fans. "What's your name?"

"Shibuya." He narrowed his eyes at my direction, in a silent order to get these girls out of here. Right now.

I smiled at my two new friends. "Well… I think Na-Shibuya is right. It's getting quite late. We should head home soon. I had fun, Keiko and Michiru. Thanks."

They each grabbed my hand. "We had fun as well, Mai. Let's hang out again… oh, let's exchange numbers."

I pulled out my cell, glaring at Naru once before happily giving my new friends my number. I was right, he didn't call me. Idiot scientist.

Waving at me one last time (and blushing madly at Naru), Keiko and Michiru ran out of the room, presumably to return home. I waved back until they were out of sight. "What was that for?"

The narcissist sent me an 'are you stupid?' look.

I glared back, glancing at my cell. "I said I would be back at 10. It's only 9:05."

"You were wasting your time regardless. Why not spend the extra 55 minutes doing something productive?"

"I was not wasting my time! I learnt something about that building." I defended.

Naru responded by giving me a 'so you are stupid' look. "So what was it that you learnt that wasn't part of the files I showed you?"

"A student apparently saw a bright figure by the window… a-and the school is cursed!"

"And?" Naru rested his chin on his hand. "What do you think? Is the information a rumor or is true?"

"…" I sheepishly scratched my head. "Ahaha…"

"Exactly. In the first place, a curse is a ridiculous idea." He pulled out the file of the old school building, scanning the summary. "It doesn't fit the criteria of a curse. You _should_ know that." He flipped the page. "And the apparition does not correspond with any of the other data we have. Since you did not respond to it either, there is only one conclusion we can draw." Naru gave me a very smug look, closing the folder with a slam. "You were wasting your time."

"But but but… it was fun…" I looked up at Naru with the most pleading look I could muster, with complete puppy dog eyes and droopy ears. "Naru, can I meet them tomorrow? Please?"

Naru was not impressed. "Time is money."

"Quiet, idiot scientist. I want a friend for a change. You know, one that isn't some type of dark mysterious character and I don't know, _hangs out_ with me, and isn't…" I trailed off. I was not in the mood to broach that subject.

"Fine."

I looked up. "Eh?"

There was a sighed. "You can meet with your new friends tomorrow. Return before we start the investigation."

"Eh?"

Naru got up and walked out of the room, sick of my broken record responses. "We need to hurry back to the hotel, clumsy esper."

"W-wait!" I spun out of my confusion and ran after him. "Thanks."

"We are starting at 9 tomorrow. I have an errand to run, set up without me."

"Kk." Geez, Naru should take a break once in a while.

* * *

**Day 2**

I take that back.

That narcissistic jerk. How dare he leave me with all of the equipment?! No one told me that we needed _this_ many cameras. And where was Lin?

I stopped at the doorway, temporarily putting down the 18th piece of equipment. Oh why did I know how many I put up you ask? Well that's because some OCD jerk numbers every single freaking camera and mike. Actually no, scratch that, he makes _me_ number ever piece of equipment. Taking deep breaths from exhaustion, I put a hand against the shoe rack. "Gene…" I closed my eyes. "Would you help me get revenge by scaring the hell out of your jerk of a brother?"

I could hear the distant sound of Gene's laugh as I shook my head in exasperation.

"Mai?"

I jumped in surprise. This caused a chain reaction. The shoe racks I was leaning on toppled over as Lin dashed from the doorway and pushed me out of the way.

"Lin?" I stared, dazed. "LIN" Running over to him, I desperately pushed the shoe rack out of the way. "LINNNN DON'T DIEEE"

"…What's going on?"

I turned to the door, tears in my eyes. "NARUUUU! LIN, LIN! LIN IS DYING!"

Naru blinked. He crouched down beside Lin. "Are you dying?"

"Don't jinx me." Came the muffled groan.

I ran to Lin, hugging him with a river flowing out of my eyes. "LINNN YOU'RE ALIVE"

"Mai, calm down. Lin won't die from something like that." Naru patted me on the head. "It takes a lot more to kill him."

"I would appreciate it if you called an ambulance." Lin deadpanned, still face flat on the floor. He slowly got up with the help of Naru as I frantically dialed 119.

…

"A sprain." Naru reported, with the slightest hint of disappointment.

"A s-sprain?" I repeated, glancing back and forth between Naru and Lin. "Lin, you'll be ok?"

Lin sighed. "Yes, Mai, I will be ok. However, I do not think I will be able to participate in the investigation for a while."

"I-I'm sorry." I sniffled. I hurt Lin…

"Mai." Naru turned my face to his. "Don't feel sad. In fact, I'm proud of you. I've been trying to send Lin to the hospital for years."

"Jerk." I punched him in the gut. Sadly, it would have been much more satisfying if Naru actually gave a reaction.

Lin once again sighed. "Mai, I'm leaving Naru to you. Make sure he doesn't do anything reckless."

I nodded. "Ok."

…

"Naru, I'm done." I placed a cup of tea beside him then sat on a chair by the window, staring at the school yard. Lin…

There was a rustling sound as Naru laid down all of the information on an empty table. He glanced at me. "Mai, why don't you take a break?"

I blinked twice. Did Naru just say something that sounded suspiciously like the word 'break'?

He rolled his eyes. "Didn't you say you wanted to meet up with your new friends yesterday? School is about to end, you can 'hang out' with them for a little bit before we continue."

"Wha- r-really?" My expression lifted. "I-I'll be back soon. Thank you, Naru!" I gave him a brief hug and dashed out to the room only to poke my head back in shortly. "Naru… don't do anything stupid before I return."

He gave me an irritated look before shooing me away. "Idiot."

…

"Michiru! Keiko! How was school?" I met the two of them outside their classroom.

"Mai! School was just school." Michiru shrugged, evidently bored of school. "You don't go to school do you."

I shook my head. "I am… homeschooled." I explained. Well… technically I _was_ homeschooled.

Keiko held my hand. "Do you want to tell ghost stories again? Would Shibuya-san join us?"

"Na-Shibuya is busy." I explained. "I will need to go back soon, but I would love to share ghost stories now."

"Did you say ghost stories?"

I turned to the voice. Who?

"You should stop this nonsense. Do you know how much problems you are causing me?" The girl began to rant. "I am psychic and very sensitive to spirits. I have had headaches all day. So you were the cause."

"Kuroda-san…" Keiko hesitantly stepped forward in attempts to placate this person called Kuroda.

"Don't you know that weaker spirits gather when ghost stories are shared?" Kuroda was did not back down. "Then the weaker spirits will call for stronger ones and it will lead to a disaster."

I blinked. Really? "Um… so, you're a psychic?"

Kuroda focused on me. "Of course."

"Then… what do you sense in the old school building?" I asked. If she is a medium, might as well extract some information out of her.

"That building is full of spirits of victims from war." Kuroda answered with a determined look in her eyes.

"Which war?"

"WWII obviously. That area must have been an old hospital, with all of the nurses and patient spirits wandering around."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Oh. I thought the school had been here even before the war…" Rather than thought, I definitely knew, thanks to some narcissistic perfectionist drilling all of the information in my head before starting the case.

Kuroda glared, defensive. "Who knows? Only people with psychic powers like me can understand. Who are you anyways? Why are you in this school?" She eyed my casual clothes.

"Uh… I… I am a… 'ghost hunter'." Naru, please don't kill me, I silently prayed. "Naru and I came here to do research on the old school building at the request of the principal."

"'Ghost hunter'?" Kuroda walked closer to me as I took a small step back wearily. "Then I might be useful to you. I am a very strong psychic after all."

"I-I… will talk to Naru. He's my boss after all… Yeah." I quickly glanced at my cell phone. "I need to go… See you later, Keiko and Michiru."

They waved back. "See you, Mai."

…

I ran to the base. "NARU!"

The said person spared me half a glance before returning to his files.

"I just met this girl, Kuroda I think, who said she was a psychic and saw a lot of ghosts from a WWII hospital here."

"And?" Naru stacked some files together.

I blinked. "And?"

"What do you think? Are there ghosts in here?"

"…" I was stunned silent, glancing around the room. I walked to the monitors and looked them over. "… I don't sense anything…" I confessed. "But maybe it's because they are too strong for me to sense or something. It was never my strength in the first place." I pointed out.

"Regardless, the idea of this place being a hospital is bogus. As for the many ghosts your friend apparently saw, there has been no evidence of such a fact as of now. Tea."

"Maybe the spirits are still hiding?" I suggested, making him a cup of tea. "I mean, we only- _I_ only, set up all of the equipment today after all."

"I believe we scouted the area yesterday and you came up negative as well."

"Well… maybe they need another day?" I offered, sliding the cup to Naru.

He checked his watch. "Mai, go take the temperatures. We'll wrap up for today after you are finished."

I grabbed the temperature board. "Can we visit Lin?"

"If you finish before visiting hours end." Naru watched me dash out of the room. He sighed and went back to his files. There was something not adding up. The first being my lack of reaction to anything related to this building.

* * *

**Day 3**

I lazily swung my legs while sitting on the end of the van as Naru reviewed the data taken throughout last night. "Anything?"

Naru shook his head. "Any dreams?"

"None." I sighed. "Maybe the spirits are really shy."

"Or there aren't any at all."

I blinked. "Naru, that's ridiculous. There has to be something causing all of the unfortunate events."

"Coincidence."

I was about to reply when an unfamiliar voice rang out.

"My, what impressive equipment. You sure know how to chose your toys."

We looked up to see a red haired woman and a man with a pony tail. Naru looked them both over carefully."You are?"

"Matsuzaki Ayako."

"Irrelevant." Naru returned to his data, having lost interest in the two people. I sighed. If mother found out about Naru's nonexistent manners, he would be so chewed.

The man in the pony tail loudly held in a laugh. Ayako was holding in her rage. "I am a miko. The principal obviously found it unfit to leave this case to a bunch of children."

I blinked. Miko? Naru glanced up in amusement. "I was under the impression that mikos had to be pure and innocent young maidens." I stilled my head. Don't nod, Mai, it's rude to nod. The man in the pony tail was having difficulty holding in his emotions.

Ayako was growing visibly angrier. "And I am not a 'pure and innocent young maiden'?"

"Too old and too much make up to fit the criteria." I placed a hand on Naru, worried that he might go too far. He sighed as he directed the conversation to the man. "And I believe you work separately from Matsuzaki-san."

The man nodded. "Houshou Takigawa, a monk from Mt. Kouya."

"With the long hair?" Naru finished his reassessment of the people in front of him, still deeming them as unimportant.

"Deviant." Ayako coughed.

"I'm taking a short break ok?" Takigawa defended. "Anyways, you guys can just leave it to the professionals. The principal called me in because he figured that you kids were scamming him with your fine looking office. Its obvious that you do not have enough experience to handle this."

"I see." Naru typed something down on his laptop, blandly displaying his lack of interest in anything they were saying.

I sweat dropped. "…Na-naru…" Please don't be so rude…

"The principal is too worked up over this simple problem, hiring so many people." Ayako flipped her hair.

"I agree. All he needed was me." Takigawa gave us a smug look.

"I wonder about that." Ayako mirrored the expression.

…I have a feeling that this will be a long day… I glanced over at Naru, who was wrapping up his run through.

"So, what are your names?"

"Tani-"

"Shibuya Kazuya." Naru cut me off, shoving the laptop onto my lap. I sighed at his rudeness before glancing down. No significant signs of activity but there were some minor movements from doors and loose boards. I looked up at Naru, ignoring the argument between the miko and the monk in the background. "Um… maybe the spirits are testing waters?"

Naru was about to reply when he was interrupted by the arrival of Kuroda.

"You must be the ghost hunters!" Kuroda gave an exaggerated sigh of relief as she approached us.

"…Naru… this is the girl I was talking about." I whispered. Naru looked over her carefully.

"Thank goodness." Kuroda was saying. "I've been having so many headaches due to the spirits of this building."

"Headaches?" Naru repeated.

"Yes. You see, I have strong psychic powers and the spirits-"

"You just want attention." Ayako roughly cut her off. "You aren't even a psychic, just a liar."

"Wait." I shoved the laptop back to Naru and ran between the two women. "You don't need to talk to her like that. She's just trying to help."

"There are many ways to help but this is not one of them." Ayako responded, shrugging slightly. "All this girl wants is for people to revere her."

I opened my mouth to argue back but froze with a shudder. Naru narrowed his eyes at my reaction.

"I will curse you." Kuroda threatened, menacingly. "You will regret this." She turned and walked away.

"Mai." I glanced over at Naru, still shivering slightly. "Let's go."

I nodded, slowly walking back to him. "Ok, Naru."

"Naru?" Takigawa asked. "I thought he was Shibuya Kazuya. Where did Naru come from?"

Crap. I blinked three times, looking back and forth between Naru and the ground. "Naru… it… it comes from 'Narcissist'. You know, like, this guys loves himself too much and stares at the mirror a lot so I call him Naru for narcissist and… yeah." I rapidly patted Naru on the arm as he gave me a very annoyed look.

"And I don't believe I caught your name." Takigawa looked over me. "You're his assistant?"

I nodded. "Yes. I am Taniyama Mai. Please call me Mai."

"Shouldn't you kids be in school?" Ayako asked, curious.

"Ah well… we were homeschooled so it's not much of a problem…" I explained. I looked around Ayako as I noticed some people in the distance. "Is that the principal?"

The other three turned to where I was looking. The principal walked over with a blonde in tow.

"Good morning. I brought some more help." The principal gestured the blonde. "This is Brown John."

"G'day mate." John gave a perfect bow. "Brown John's the name. I hail from down under."

I held my mouth as Ayako and Takigawa were having a laughing fit at the side. That accent does not match with his face at all.

Naru was holding in his amusement quite well. "And you are?"

"Exorcist mate." John smiled as the two laughing adults froze.

"I believe that in Catholicism, you have to be a priest or higher to be an exorcist." Naru looked him over more carefully, glancing at his silver cross. "You seem to be very young even to be a priest."

"You are very knowledgeable, mate. I am a priest; just turned 19 last month."

19?! Wow. He sure doesn't look older than Naru. Then again, Naru does not look 17.

Naru glared at me, as if he read my thoughts.

…

John followed us into the base, eager to cooperate, while Takigawa and Ayako set off on their own.

"So Shibuya-san is the president of his ghost hunting business?"

I nodded. "Lin and I assist him. Lin… I hurt him yesterday…"

"I'm sure it was an accident." John patted me on the shoulder. "You are too kind to injure him in any other way."

"Thank you…" I sighed. "You are very nice, Brown-san."

John blushed in embarrassment. "Just call me John."

"Mai."

I glanced up as Naru shoved a set of tapes into my hands. "Quit wasting time."

"Kk." I rolled my eyes. Everything I do seems like a waste of time to Naru. Turning around, I passed by the screens. "…GHOST!"

Naru was at my side in a second. He sighed in exasperation. "That's not a ghost, Mai." He turned to the door, as the girl from the screen entered our base. "The principal must really want to get rid of this place if he called you as well."

I glanced around Naru. "You know her?"

"Hara Masako. Spirit medium. She's famous around here."

"Oh…" I looked at her. Masako seemed very interested in Naru. Somehow, I am not surprised at all. "So, she's like Gene?" I whispered.

"You can't compare anyone to that useless medium." Naru mumbled back. "But, to answer your question, yes."

"Have-" Masako began but was cut off by a loud scream. Everyone ran out of the room to the source.

"That was Matsuzaki-san's voice, right?" John asked.

I bit my lip nervously. "I think so…"

"OPEN THIS DOOR" Ayako was pounding rapidly on the door.

Naru tugged on the door, but it refused to move.

"HEY, STAND BACK, AYAKO, I'M KICKING THIS DOOR DOWN." Takigawa called.

"DON'T ADDRESS ME SO CASUALLY." Ayako screamed as the door came down in front of her.

…

"It is an earth-bound spirit." Ayako declared.

"It's the building that's haunted." Takigawa countered.

"There are no spirits." Was Masako's answer.

"What do you think, Father Brown?" Naru asked, playing with a nail. Why was he even playing with a nail? That's so dangerous.

"I am not sure." John chose the safest answer.

Ayako stood up. "Well this is a waste of my time. I'll just exorcise this place tomorrow. Problem solved." She walked out of the room.

"There is no need to exorcise a place with no spirits." Masako held the sleeve of her kimono over her mouth as she walked over to Naru. "I've been wondering, have we met before?"

"This is our first meeting." Naru did not spare Masako a second glance as he once again shoved the tapes into my arms. "Mai, let's go."

"K…" I walked out of the room. "Naru? You're coming with me?"

"There's something I need to check…" He glanced down at me. "You don't feel anything?"

I shook my head. "But… what do you think trapped Matsuzaki-san behind that door?"

"Coincidence."

"You're still going on about that?" I sighed, as I exchanged one of the camera tapes. "If everything was run by coincidences, we wouldn't have a job."

Naru ignored my statement. "What do you think about the psychic?"

I looked up. "Which one? Kuroda-san? Hara-san?"

"Both."

"For Hara-san… I don't think she is much like Gene actually." I thought back. "Like she is a bit similar, but different."

Naru rolled his eyes at my wonderful analysis. "Splendid vocabulary." He sarcastically replied. "What about the other one?"

"Ah… well… for Kuroda-san… I don't feel anything much about her."

"But she scared you."

I blinked. "Oh, when she was cursing Matsuzaki-san? Yeah…" I shuddered in memory. "I didn't feel so good at that time… Naru… do you think she actually cursed Matsuzaki-san?"

"You should know enough about curses to be able to answer the question on your own." Naru coolly stated, walking around the room and staring out the window at his reflection.

"Idiot scientist." I muttered, exchanging the tapes.

Suddenly, Naru stepped backwards in surprise at his reflection making a goofy face at him. "Useless medium." He growled. "What are you doing?"

Gene smiled and slowly mouthed the words 'Revenge for Mai' at Naru. I ran over to the reflection and beamed. "Gene! Thank you~"

The reflection laughed as he gestured over to his fuming twin. Naru glared at both of us as we failed to hold in our laughter. Gene waved at us when he calmed down and vanished, replacing himself with Naru's reflection. "You clumsy esper, if you had time to talk to the useless medium you should have asked him about this building instead."

I held both of my hands up. "I haven't dreamt yet, I swear. It was just a little request I prayed aloud. Nothing big…"


	2. Ghost Hunt -2-

**Ghost Hunt**

* * *

**Day 4**

"...Kuroda-san was it?"

The said girl turned to me. "Yes."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, looking around the base. She was the only other person inside. What was she doing here so early in the morning anyways?

"I was just looking around." Kuroda turned back to the screens. "So how is the investigation going?"

"Slowly…" I vaguely answered, spreading some files on the table and going through the data from last night.

"So you haven't found the spirits yet."

I glanced up wearily. "Um… well there were mixed responses and theories… so…"

"You should hurry up. The spirits here are very powerful. I was attacked in the hallway before I arrived here." Kuroda rubbed her neck.

My eyes widened. "What? Really?"

"Yes. I was walking when I felt something tug on my hair. As I tried to move away, it threatened and choked me." I eyed her neck, seeing faint pink hand marks on it. Strange… I thought all attacks from spirits led to bruising or drew blood. This spirit must be physically very weak or something.

"Where were you?" Naru walked into the room, eyeing her neck as well. He glanced at me, in a silent order to rewind the camera footage. I walked over the main computer and did as told.

Staring at the monitors, the three of us watched as Kuroda entered the building and walked up the stairs. Just as she was about to reach the top, the camera covering the area fuzzed out.

I blinked. "It's broken?"

"No…" Naru checked the main computer, thinking hard. "So the spirit appears and affects the equipment…" He turned to Kuroda. "The spirit spoke to you?"

She nodded. "Yes… it was hard to tell but I think it was a female voice."

"I see." Naru glanced at my reaction, which was evidently lacking of anything.

"So there is a spirit here after all?" I asked. "Then that means Hara-san missed it."

"It is not much of a shock if she actually missed a spirit." Naru shrugged. He glanced at Kuroda. "Perhaps you are on the same wavelength with the spirit, unlike her."

Was it just me or does Naru actually look down on Masako's abilities? …If he keeps comparing everyone to Gene, there would never be a satisfactory medium to him. I sighed, refocusing on the screens just in time to see Ayako lead many people into the building. "Naru."

He walked next to me, studying Ayako's clothing. "Hmm… a Shinto exorcism? Mai, let's go watch."

…

Everyone involved gathered in the large room Ayako had set up in, also interested to watch. I yawned sleepily as she performed the exorcism, chanting weird words softly. "Naru… what is she saying?"

"Norito. Keep quiet, Mai."

"K…" A shinto exorcism seems quite complicated. I glanced at the ceremonial trays and offerings, then at Ayako's well made clothes. So she was a miko after all. I nodded off slightly, eyes drooping. How long are shinto exorcisms anyways?

"This building is now free of spirits." Ayako turned. I blinked twice, rubbing my eyes. I did not just almost fall asleep.

Yawning and stretching, I watched as the principal and a few other men invite Ayako to dinner as a reward. "Mai." I turned to Naru and shuffled over to him. He was looking at me intently. "How do you feel?"

"Eh? Ah… sorry, I feel a little sleepy… that's all." I reassured him.

He gave me a deadpanned look. "Tell me something I don't know." He glanced around the room and reworded his question for my benefit. "How does this place feel?"

"This place?" I glanced around as well and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't feel anything much. The air is the same."

"I see." The loud sound of glass cracking caused us to both turned at the group exiting the building. Naru instinctively grabbed my arm and tugged me behind him. The glass shattered over Ayako, the principal and his other board members.

…

"Free of spirits, was it?" Kuroda smirked. "Free enough to send the principal to the hospital."

"It was an accident." Masako declared. "There aren't any spirits."

"You mean there aren't any spirits now because I successfully got rid of them." Ayako huffed.

Masako turned away. "No. There weren't any spirits in the first place. There was nothing for you to get rid of, successful or otherwise."

"…Naru…" I glanced at Naru, who was evidently not giving even half a damn at the arguing women.

"Maybe the spirits were too strong for a miko to get rid of." Takigawa suggested.

Naru shrugged, looking over the data again. "The cameras should have caught sight of it."

Sighing, I walked over to the cameras. Personally, I don't feel anything in particular in this building but I was no Gene. Come to think of it, shouldn't I have dreamt of him by now? Unless… he couldn't find any information. I looked at the room Gene appeared in yesterday with a sigh. Eh? "Naru, I don't remember there being that chair there yesterday night."

Naru walked over to where I was, narrowing his eyes at the screen. "Has anyone gone to the far west corner of this building?"

There was a negative response from everyone. Naru rewound the footage. We all watched as the chair slowly slid from one side of the room to the middle. How did that even happen?

Naru placed a hand on my shoulder, in a silent question. I shook my head slightly. I had no idea what the cause was and sensed absolutely nothing. He sighed.

"It's a poltergeist." Kuroda cut into our silent conversation.

"No… objects moved by a poltergeist feel warm." Naru glanced at the thermal camera. "The chair did not experience a temperature change."

"What if we follow Tisanes criteria?" John held out his hand to count. "So far, there has been doors closing, windows breaking and chairs moving. So that's three of the nine criteria."

"How about Kuroda-san's attack?" I asked, going through the criteria in my head. None of them were related to the attack.

"She imagined it. " Masako walked towards the door. "I will check once more to satisfy you but my position stands. There are no spirits."

"I wonder if there really are no spirits…" John trailed off after she left.

"There is no evidence that there are." Naru calmly looked over the data once more, sparing me a glance.

I blinked. Naru?

"Humph. So you support the pretty ones." Kuroda crossed her arms.

"She is renown for her talent in the field and has displayed positive results to support it." Naru looked at me after I tugged on his arm. "What is it, Mai?"

"…Um…" I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Should I check?"

"No." Naru patted my head. "It is still too soon to draw any conclusions. There is no guarantee that there actually isn't a powerful spirit yet."

Suddenly, we heard creaking noises from above. Everyone looked up wearily, already inching to the exits just in case. The creaking sounds were replaced by a loud scream.

John ran to the screens. "Hara-san fell from the second floor! Call an ambulance."

…

"How can that girl still insist that there are no spirits when she was clearly attacked?" Ayako fumed.

"Woah, calm down there. Isn't it your fault that you failed to get rid of them?" Takigawa scoffed.

"…Naru?" I glanced over at him. "Was it really an accident?"

"Using the footage as evidence, yes." He looked at me. "What do you think?"

I bit my lip and shook my head. I don't sense anything.

He nodded. "I see. This building, to put plainly, does not make sense. All of the equipment we have indicates that everything is normal-"

"But what about the attack on me and the miko?" Kuroda exclaimed. "And all of the other moving and breaking objects? How is that normal?"

"Which is why it does not make sense." Naru narrowed his eyes, annoyed that he was cut off.

"Maybe the spirits are so strong that no one can sense anything." Takigawa shrugged.

Naru made a slight face. "… What do you think the cause is?"

"Spirit attached to the building." Takigawa kept his original claim. The men looked at John.

"I am not sure, mate, however I believe it is dangerous." John turned back to Naru. "Shibuya-san, what is your opinion?"

"I will share it later." Naru picked up his laptop. "Mai, I'm going to the van, stay here."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Naru…"

He sighed. "Don't worry. I'm just going to research this from a slightly different angle." Patting my head, he left the base.

"That boss of yours, does he really know what he's doing?" Takigawa asked.

I shrugged and dodged the question. "It's almost impossible to guess what he's thinking." If anyone was to know what they were doing, it would be Naru. I turned to John. "Are you going to start an exorcism? Do you need any help?"

John shook his head. "I'll be fine. Please watch over from the screens in case. You might catch some activity."

…

Donned in his priest robe, John actually looks slightly older. He still looks younger than Naru though. We all gathered at the screen, watching John enter the room of the far west corner in the building and begin his exorcism. "In the beginning was the word…"

"Can you turn it up?" Takigawa asked over my shoulder. I reached for the control panel, slowly dialing the volume up. Right when it was loud enough to hear John speaking clearly, rapping noises arose. John had evidently heard the sounds as well, glancing around the room in every direction for the cause. Cause… I glanced at the ceiling above John and was out of the room seconds later.

"MAI?" I heard Ayako and Takigawa scream but I ignored everyone, continuing my one way track.

I skidded to a stop in front of the room John was in. "JOHN, MOVE"

…

"Thank you very much, Mai." John gave me a deep bow.

"You're welcome." I smiled.

Naru knocked my head. "What were you thinking? Running to the scene without considering the consequences."

"It's fine, Naru." I rubbed the spot he hit me. "No one's hurt."

He shook his head as he examined the rubble from the collapsed ceiling. "Mai, wrap up for tonight. Return to the hotel."

I nodded as the others followed the suggestion to leave as well. "Naru?"

"I'm staying for a little while longer. Leave without me."

* * *

**Day 5**

I glared at the scene before me. That idiot narcissistic jerk of a stupid dumb idiotic scientist idiot. I shook Naru awake, still ranting in my head.

He rubbed his eyes. "…Mai?"

"THIS IS MORE THAN A 'LITTLE WHILE'." I yelled, slamming a teacup violently in front of him. "ARE YOU INSANE? YOU SLEPT IN THE VAN OVER NIGHT. IF LIN FINDS OUT HE WILL ATTACH 2 SHIKI TO YOU." I paused. Oh, that's a good idea.

Naru groaned. "Don't tell Lin… and don't yell so early in the morning."

"You idiot. It's 11, barely still 'morning', much less early." I placed a hand on his forehead. "Do you feel sick?"

"Mai, it's summer. I can't catch a cold by sleeping in a van." He swatted my hand away and took a sip of tea.

"You're an idiot though." I shook my head. "Idiot scientist, did you find out anything?"

Naru handed me a stack of paper as Ayako, Takigawa and John ran over to us, having located us through my yelling.

"Morning. You're packing up?" Takigawa asked. "The equipment is almost gone from your base after all."

Naru took another sip of tea. "Yes. This case is closed."

"WHAT?" The three newcomers yelled.

Naru looked at them in absolute annoyance. He was never a morning person and there was only so much yelling he could take. "Mai."

Oh thanks Naru, push all of the explaining to me so you can peacefully drink the tea I made for you. Naru must have read my mind or something, rolling his eyes and urging me to hurry up so we could go home with a deadpanned look. I sighed, reading the last page before handing the papers to Takigawa.

"Naru figured out it that the occurrences in the building were due to a land subsidence. The school sunk 0.2 of an inch within a last night alone." I pulled out a map. "Apparently, this school was built on top of a water system but it has already dried out, leaving a loose foundation under the school. That is why the building keeps collapsing and breaking, especially in the west area." I glanced back down to the files. "I think it was 3 inches… yeah. The floor of the east side is 3 inches higher than the west. Is that it?"

Naru nodded, still slightly irritated from his terrible morning. "Mai, let's pack up. This building will collapse eventually."

…

"There are spirits."

I looked at Naru. He was visibly annoyed. Probably due to a poor night's sleep and uncomfortable awakening. "There is no evidence."

"Maybe you just can't sense it." Kuroda argued in determination.

"Perhaps, however it does not change my stance. I declare that our job is done. If you feel troubled you should exorcise the spirit yourself." Naru turned around, scanning the room one last time to check that everything was put away.

Suddenly a very bad feeling took over me and I began to visibly shiver. "N-naru…"

"What is it- MAI" Naru instantly dragged me to the ground as the windows all shattered. There were knocking noises from every direction as the door began slamming open and shut. Then, as abruptly as it began, it stopped.

…

"That was definitely a poltergeist." Takigawa yelled. "Your sinking building story is ridiculous."

"Shibuya-san… that is four of the nine criteria." John looked at the building nervously.

For once, Naru was stunned silent in pure shock. I glanced back and forth between everyone, unable to figure out what to make of this situation.

Ayako was treating Kuroda's injuries, muttering words of comfort as she bandaged her hand. "Mai, are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "I am fine… thanks." Rather than me… I walked up to Naru.

"…Naru?" I glanced at his bloody hand and dragged him to the van. He did not show any forms of protest, probably still in shock. Of all of the things in this world, the notion of him making a mistake was one of the most earth crashing things to Naru. He had always prided himself as a perfectionist after all, only making conclusions after thoroughly analysing all of the possibilities.

Naru gave a loud sigh as he watched me wrap up his hand. "…Mai… what do you think?"

I looked at his eyes and wholeheartedly gave him my honest opinion. "Naru is not wrong."

He gave a ghost of a smile, one of the more uncommon expressions he has ever made. "I see." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reanalyzing what had just occurred. "Mai, why did you call for me earlier? Did you sense a spirit?"

I shook my head. "No… I don't think it was a spirit…" I bit my lip, puzzled. "I am not sure… should I check?"

"No." Naru patted my head with his injury free hand. "I'm going to do some research. Stay here."

I opened my mouth to protest but his expression stopped me. "… Ok. Don't do anything stupid, idiot scientist." I turned around and waved at him before walking back to the others. When Naru gives a determined look like that, it is best to leave him alone. Everything else would just get in the way.

…

I arrived at the base to see Takigawa in his monk garb. "You're doing an exorcism?"

He nodded. "Want to watch?"

"Maybe later… I need to clean up the base." I gestured the cameras. "The building will collapse soon, after all."

Takigawa ruffled my hair. "You trust your boss a lot, don't you. Where is he anyways?"

"Naru will return later…" I trailed off, pulling a screen out. I glanced over at John, who was doing the same. "Thank you."

"No problem." John smiled as he followed me out of the building.

John and I took out most of the equipment, leaving one camera and mike on the second floor, just in case.

"Well, I'll go take another round." John waved as he set off down a hall.

I sighed, leaning against the wall beside the stairwell, staring at the front doors. …Should I? Oh heck, why not. Pulling out my cell, I phoned Lin. As usual, he picked up on the first ring. "Mai?"

"Lin… how are you? When are you discharged?"

"I'll rejoin the investigation three days later." Lin paused. "It's not your fault, Mai."

"… I know…"

There was a sigh on the other end, followed by a moment of awkward silence. In hindsight, I shouldn't have put Lin in the awkward situation of having to start a conversation. He was bad at communication to people in person, not a surprise it would be worse over the phone.

"…So… um… how's Naru?" Lin finally asked, uncertain why I was calling him in the first place.

"Naru…" I sniffled. "Lin… Naru is an idiot."

From the other side of the phone, Lin sweat dropped. "…What he do now?"

"He, he…" I paused, considering for a while whether or not I should tattle. Remembering Naru's pained expression, I reached my verdict. "He's an idiot."

"…" At that moment, Lin reinforced his dislike to phone calls.

"Ah, Kuroda-san." I stared at the person who just entered the door. "Lin, I need to go. Thank you, I'll visit you later. Oh, and, Naru's an idiot. Bye."

"… Bye?" Lin listened to the call end tone, trying to figure out what I was trying to do in the last few minutes before giving up with a sigh.

"Kuroda-san." I greeted.

"What's going on?" She asked, straight to the point. It was obvious that she did not spare me much of a second thought, seeing that I have never claimed to have psychic powers. Then again, Naru hasn't either… Eh. It's probably because of his face. That idiotic narcissist.

"Takigawa-san is doing an exorcism." I filled her in.

"And it was a success." Ayako descended from the stairs.

I turned to her, slightly doubting her words. The air did not change after all. "Are you sure?"

"Of course." Takigawa answered. John followed into the room after him.

Kuroda closed her eyes. "No… there are still spirits."

I shuddered. Something felt wrong.

"Listen kid, stop trying to act like a psychic when you clearly aren't. Leave the spirits to the professionals." Ayako gave a humph.

"There are still many spirits." As if on cue, the sound of footsteps rang from above them. The sound continued across the hall and down the stairs when it suddenly stopped before it came to view with a thump.

Takigawa ran up the stairs. "…There's nothing here. Must have been our imagination."

"It's just the wind." Ayako declared.

"… Just the wind?" I repeated. "Are seriously saying its 'just the wind' or it was 'our imagination'?! I can't believe you. Why can't you just say that the exorcism failed and suck it up like you are supposed to. Even Naru acts more maturely than the two of you combined." I would have continued yelling but froze due to a sudden shiver. "…Naru…" I called weakly.

The knocking noises erupted from all directions. The lights shattered from above. "GET OUT OF THE BUILDING." Takigawa screamed as everyone high tailed it out the door. I dashed near the wall, hand brushing against the shelves. Wait… they are warm?

Shocked by the revelation, I did not notice another shelf levitate behind me. "MAI"

…

_"Mai… Mai…" I felt someone pat my head, combing my hair with their fingers._

_I opened my eyes a slight crack. "… 5 more minutes…"_

_"Haha, sorry Mai, that can't happen."_

_"So mean, Gene…" I instantly opened my eyes and shot up, almost hitting Gene with my forehead. "GENE!"_

_Gene smiled at me. "Hey."_

_I threw myself onto him. "Gene, where were you? Why did I get a dream now? We were on this case for so many days already."_

_Gene __gently_ pulled me off of him. "What do you think?"

_I beamed. "Naru isn't wrong."_

_"Exactly, that's why."_

_I poked him. "Useless medium, you could have still visited me." I stood up, stretching my arms._

_"Where's the fun in that?" Gene stood up as well. "It would have been way too easy."_

_"You have such a bad personality." I complained._

_Gene smiled. "Wake up, clumsy esper."_

_"See you later."_

…

"JOU-CHAN." I opened my eyes with a start. Takigawa, Ayako and John looked at me. "Are you ok?"

I rubbed my eyes. "Ah hey… sorry for worrying you…" I returned Takigawa his jacket, which he had put on top of me as a blanket. "Sorry… sometimes when I sleep, it takes a while to wake up again."

John smiled. "You were out for a long time. It's almost 4."

"I see… Naru's not back, is he?" Wait, the answer was obvious. If he was back, he would have been cursing the useless medium by now. "Where's Kuroda-san?"

"She went home. It's probably a good idea if we stop investigating as well, seeing how every exorcism we've tried failed." Takigawa shrugged.

"So you are running away?"

"Your boss beat us to that. He is probably at home, crying himself to sleep." Ayako laughed.

"Actually, Shibuya-san is more likely to stab voodoo dolls with pins." John pointed out.

I laughed out loud with everyone else. I would love to see Naru bent over a voodoo doll one day. Oh boy, that would be worth so much.

…

The hotel room was a complete mess. Papers were scattered all over the floor, surrounding a sleeping black lump in the center. I sighed, carefully walking around the paper, careful not to ruin the order of anything. Naru was very OCD about where everything was during investigations. Miraculously, I managed to make it to the black lump in the center without doing much damage. I poked it. "Naru."

He groaned. "What time is it?"

I glanced at the clock. "It's almost 6. I visited Lin earlier. He will be back the day after tomorrow. Apparently he healed faster than the doctor predicted."

Naru sighed, slowly sitting up. "Wonderful." He sarcastically cheered.

"Come on, Lin's not that bad. He's like how you are to me except quieter."

I laughed at his very unamused look, obviously not liking how I was comparing Lin to him. "What's for dinner?"

"It's over there." I pointed to the take-out box on the table. Naru slowly stood up and stretched, walking to the table without a care about his research materials. Which only meant one thing… "You figured it out?"

Naru smirked at me. "Of course." His eyes narrowed at my lack of serious interest. "So the useless medium finally decided to visit you."

I scratched my head. "Yeah. Actually I figured it out because the shelves felt warm before they came crashing at me. Then Gene confirmed it afterwards."

"When what came crashing at you?"

I froze. Oops. "Ahaha… what are you talking about? Naru, you should get some proper rest. I'll give your shoulders a massage later."

"Mai."

"I'll go get some tea. Just kick back and relax…" I dashed out of the room while I still could.

"MAI."

* * *

Author's Note:

Waah thank you so much for the reviews ^w^  
There will be NaruxMai in the future… the far distant future. far far distant future…  
I'm going to follow canon but alternate between my own arcs and the story arcs

-1458


	3. Ghost Hunt -3-

**Ghost Hunt**

* * *

**Day 6**

"Naru… are you sure it's a good idea to plant a hypnotic suggestion?" I turned off the flashing lamp, satisfied that it was working properly, and assembled it back into its case.

"Is there another method you prefer?" Naru glanced over his files once more, scribbling a note on the corner of the page.

"No… but well… aren't most of the participants confirmed psychics? Like, what if I accidentally move the chair?"

Naru flashed me a 'I can't believe you are such an idiot' look. "You don't have PK."

"That's not the point."

He sighed. "I would assume that the other psychics would have been trained enough to prevent such 'accidents'." A small smirk rose to his lips. "It would be amusing if there _was_ an accident though."

"Naru, you're acting like Gene."

I received a whack on the head for my observation. "Set up at the principal's office and get the chair. I'll go call everyone else involved."

I saluted him, still hugging the case in one arm. "Yes, boss~"

…

"Mai!"

I turned to the voices. "Keiko, Michiru, how are you?"

"We are fine. We should be asking you that." Keiko grabbed my hand. "I heard from Kuroda-san that you collapsed due to the spirits. Is that true?"

In a way…? I nodded.

Michiru grabbed my other hand. "Are you ok? Should you still be walking around?"

"I am fine. I didn't even get a scratch. I just fell asleep for a bit." I laughed sheepishly. "Kuroda-san told you?"

"Well… Kuroda-san told everyone that a girl our age collapsed. We just figured it was you because it couldn't have been anyone else." Keiko explained.

"We were about to call you to check if you were alright but then we noticed you walk by." Michiru continued.

"Oh… Thank you for the concern." I smiled. Kuroda told everyone? …oh joy. "I need to head off. I'll call you soon."

"Stay safe. Bye."

…

To mock me for our previous conversation (about me accidentally moving the chair with my nonexistent PK), Naru made me participate in the hypnotic suggestion as a recipient. I glared at him as he smugly gestured me to the empty chair between Kuroda and John. Huffing silently, I sat down, noticing Masako the next seat over. How did Naru manage to drag Masako here?

"Now everyone involved with this case is in the room." Naru pulled the curtains and turned on the lamp. "Please focus on the light." He paused, checking that everyone did as instructed. "Sync your breathing to the light."

I stared at the flashing lamp, ignoring Naru's instructions, while suppressing a yawn. I've been through this so many times already… Stupid narcissistic jerk.

The sudden flood of light refocused my attention back to the room. I stretched, watching as Naru placed a hand on the chair. "Thank you for your time."

Everyone else filed out of the room quietly, all slowly waking up from the experiment. Naru followed them out after they left, presumably for the van. I yawned and packed the lamp back into its case.

"Excuse me." I glanced up at the principal and nodded for him to continue. "How is your investigation going?"

I smiled. "Rest assured, we are almost done. If all goes well, we will wrap up tomorrow."

"That's good… Thank you very much for your efforts." The principal dipped his head.

"No, no, please thank us when you are done." I flailed, unsure what to do. This was not included in my Japanese etiquette lessons. "I need to get back to work. Please wait for the good news." Bowing, I quickly walked out of the room. Aaah… that was so embarrassing.

…

"Naruuu." I ran over to him, still embarrassed. He evidently did not hear me, too focused on the audio he was listening through headphones. Sighing, I slipped behind him to put the lamp into the van. He grabbed my head as I crawled out. "Naru?"

"…" Naru slowly ran his fingers through my hair, feeling my scalp with an unreadable expression on his face.

Confused, I looked around him and at the laptop. It was playing the audio and footage from yesterday. Ah. "Naru, I'm fine. They were overreacting."

He ignored me and pulled away, satisfied that there were no injuries on my head. "Be more careful. You only have a limited amount of brain cells to kill."

"I'll try, jerk." I stuck my tongue at him and hopped out of the van. "Where are we setting up?"

Naru grabbed some cord. "2nd floor laboratory. Nice to know that you were sleeping through the experiment."

"I wasn't sleeping." I protested, picking up the chair. I turned around at the sound of footsteps. "John? You're still here?"

John smiled. "Yes. Let me help out as well."

"Thanks, could you grab that camera?"

…

"So you are going to wrap up the case soon?" John asked, moving the camera as per my instructions.

"That's good John. Yeah. We are going to leave tomorrow, if everything works out." I walked around to check the view from the camera. The chair was in the center of the screen, upright surrounded by a circle of tape on the floor.

"Could we remain in contact?"

Both Naru and I turned to him. "In contact?" I repeated.

John nodded. "I arrived in Japan a week ago with no particular destination in mind. I would be very happy to remain friends and perhaps assist in your exorcism business."

I wanted to give him our address and number however I knew that it was not my choice to make. Naru's safety and happiness was at a much higher priority than my new friend's. Biting my lip slightly, I turned to Naru, only to find him not there. I swiveled my head back in time to see Naru hand John a piece of paper.

"Shibuya Psychic Research…?" John mumbled. He looked up with a smile. "Thank you, mate." Ripping out a page in his memo, John scribbled his phone number on it and handed it to Naru.

Naru nodded, pocketing the number. He gestured John and I out of the room and pointed to the boards. "Seal the windows and door then write your names all over the boards." He left for the van without second word.

John rubbed his head sheepishly. "Shall we get started, Mai-san?"

I looked away from the direction Naru headed. "… Yeah."

…

"Done?"

I nodded, taking a seat beside Naru at the back of the van. "John went back."

Naru grunted from his laptop.

"… Um… is it alright?" I asked nervously. Naru looked at me, confused, urging me to clarify myself. "Is it alright for us to continue meeting with John, an exorcist?"

"Didn't you want friends?" I thought I heard Naru mutter.

I blinked. "What?"

He narrowed his eyes in slight irritation. "Is there a problem with being acquainted with Father Brown?"

"Well… what if he finds out who you are?"

"It's not a secret, who I am."

"But if people find out you'll have to run from all of those cameras, reporters and everything and-"

"Mai." Naru cut me off. "Don't worry so much. There are always risks, even without one or two closer acquaintances." He paused. "Unless, of course, you would prefer that I live as a hermit."

"I thought you were a hermit."

Naru hit me on the head. "I do not recall ever being a hermit."

"You don't?" I stared at him like he grew another head. "Are you sure? I mean, even Gene agrees with me." I gestured the darkened glass of the van, where Gene had replaced Naru's reflection and was currently laughing his head off.

Naru looked like he was 2 seconds away from breaking the window. "Useless medium. Shut up." Gene nodded, still laughing, as he slowly faded away and let Naru's reflection return. "And no, clumsy esper, I was never a hermit. I spent time in the library to conduct research and time in the lab to perform experiments. If anything, that witch is the very definition of a hermit."

I fumed, not happy that my friend was insulted. "She is not a hermit! She just likes to practice her circles and curses in peace."

Naru shrugged, refocusing on his laptop. "Father Brown is someone beneficial to have as an associate." He turned his laptop so I could see the screen. "His exorcism powers are exceptional."

I stared at the screen. "Naru, how did you get this information?"

Naru wore a very smug look. "Ways."

"… Through Britain's SPR?" I furrowed my eyebrows, reading the information on John carefully. That was a lot of information.

Naru narrowed his eyes. "Through my own connections." He specified, wanting to spell out clearly to me that he did not ask our parents for help.

"Isn't this invasion of privacy?" I asked, amazed that it even contained John's travel routes for the last 5 years, down to the amount of time he stayed in each location. "Naru, stalking is a bit much…"

"Coming from a person who can enter the dreams and memories of others?"

"Right."

"Since when am I wrong?" Naru gloated, glancing at his watch. "Let's go to the hospital, Mai. It's time to pick up Lin."

…

"LINNNN" I pounced at Lin, only to have Naru grab the back of my collar before I succeeded.

"Since you have obviously not noticed, allow me to direct your attention to Lin's crutches." Naru smirked. "Though by all means continue, if you wish to send Lin back to the hospital."

"Jerk." I freed myself from Naru's grasp and turned apologetically to Lin. "Lin… sorry."

Lin gave a slight sigh and used his free hand to pat my head. Slowly, he limped to the car. "How's the case?"

"Due to some interference, it took longer than expected. However, we will wrap up tomorrow." Naru crossed his arms. "The cause is a land subsidence and an untrained human poltergeist." He grumbled, entering the back of the car after me.

"We just need to confirm it with the hypnotic suggestion… ah!" Lin glanced up the rear-view mirror as Naru turned to me. "…Naru… um… Kuroda-san told everyone that there were spirits…"

Naru gave a look of indifference. "And?"

"Well… are you going to tell the principal it was caused by the drying of underground water systems?"

"Yes." Naru narrowed his eyes as he studied my expression closely. "Or do you prefer I tell him that there were spirits from a WWII hospital."

I nodded.

"You want me to be unprofessional and lie for the sake of supporting the ego of one individual you hardly even know."

"…" I nodded once more, this time keeping my head low.

Naru sighed. "Mai, it was Kuroda's fault for getting into such a situation in the first place. Even if you save her this time it does not mean that the incident will never repeat again. And I do not believe that she is close enough to you for you to continue to clean up after her future mistakes."

I looked up at him. "Kuroda-san is not that type of person. She… she won't cause any trouble in the future."

The doubt was very prevalent in Naru's eyes. I looked at my lap. It was obvious what his decision was...

"Fine." I jerked my head up in surprise. Naru sighed and shook his head. "I'll indulge you just this once." He narrowed his eyes. "Don't expect me to do this again."

That was more than enough. I crawled over on the seat and hugged him, overjoyed. "Thank you, Naru."

There was another sigh as Naru placed a hand over my head, blocking my view of his face. "Sit down properly."

* * *

**Day 7**

"Why are we here again?" Ayako paused. "I meant, why is she here again?"

I glanced at Kuroda for half a second before looking away. "… Kuroda-san insisted on coming so she could find out what yesterday was all about." Which worked in our favor, as we didn't need to waste time and energy searching for her.

"Aren't we all curious?" Takigawa asked, turning to Naru. "Hopefully you won't embarrass yourself this time."

Naru did not even dignify the statement with a glance, instead gesturing John and I to the boards. "Please check if anything has been damaged or altered."

"They are perfect, mate." I nodded in agreement, stepping away to give space for Lin.

"Good." Naru grabbed the crowbar against the wall and mercilessly destroyed our work. … I'm sorry Naru… I stressed you out too much.

Once he completed his board massacre, Naru slid the door open, with the rest of us peering around him from behind. The chair, which was once upright in the middle of the room, was now toppled over against the wall.

"Shibuya-san, the chair moved." John glanced around the room, checking if there were any other differences in the room but found none.

Naru walked over to the camera and rewound the footage, absolutely pleased. He was not even trying to hid the smirk on his face, overjoyed that we could finally wrap the case up and go home. Pressing the play button, he stepped back to clear the view of the camera screen. Everyone watched the chair tremor then violently throw itself at the wall.

"That is definitely a poltergeist." Ayako declared, looking at Naru expecting an argument from him.

"Correct." Naru's smirk grew as he checked the thermal camera.

"Well… then shouldn't we exorcise it?" Takigawa furrowed his eyebrows, confused at Naru's reaction.

Naru looked at us. "Half of all poltergeist cases are caused by humans."

"Humans?" Takigawa repeated.

"Psychics. Particularly those who have PK without their knowledge." Naru walked over to the chair and picked it up. "Usually, people who have untrained PK are either children or young women." He paused and looked at Masako, Kuroda and I. "The ones that fit the criteria of an accidental poltergeist are Mai, Hara-san and Kuroda-san. Mai does not have PK and Hara-san has also demonstrated that she doesn't have it as well."

Naru leaned against the table without pausing, preventing any sudden outbursts. "Aside from that, people usually subconsciously cause poltergeist incidences when they have strong feelings about something, such as the desire of obtaining attention. Through a simple series of elimination, it is obvious who the poltergeist is."

Glancing down, I found my fists clenched. Naru was being much to blunt right now. I took a deep breath. Trust the narcissistic jerk, Mai, trust the idiot scientist.

"So it was you?!" Ayako turned violently towards Kuroda. "You sent us on a wild goose chase, injured people and made a huge fuss?"

Kuroda shrunk into herself, no doubt feeling guilty.

"No. It was the land subsidence as I stated before." Naru cut in, stalling Ayako's rage. "Everything after my declaration that we were going to wrap the case up the first time was caused by her."

"Then how do you explain me getting trapped in that room and the missing footage?" Ayako pressed further. "Land subsidence surely did not cause that."

Naru sighed. "Kuroda-san erased the footage before Mai and I entered the base. This was what locked you in." He placed a nail in Ayako's hand.

She gave the nail a death glare. "You..."

"It was just a prank. You were giving her a hard time prior." Naru sighed and looked at me. "I plan to tell the principal that there were many spirits from a WWII hospital here but we all exorcised them. However, since the spirits have damaged most of the structure, the building is due to collapse on its own soon. Is that alright?"

I nodded with a smile. Everyone else shrugged, finding it too troublesome go against Naru's challenging look to argue back.

"Hmm... So Naru is quite the gentlemen." Ayako purred, walking closer to him. "Do you have a girlfriend? I can satisfy your every need."

Naru scoffed. "I will have to turn down the offer." He smirked. "I much prefer spending time with a mirror."

I collapsed onto the floor with laughter. That's it. I will have to add a huge body mirror to Naru's office. Gene would be so pleased.

An irritated Naru hit my head with a knuckle. "Stop laughing and get back to work. We're going home."

"Y-yes, boss." I managed to reply between giggles.

...

"Taniyama-san..."

I slid the camera case in my arms to the floor of the van and turned to Kuroda. "Did you forget anything, Kuroda-san?"

"Ah no... I just wanted to apologize for causing so much trouble to you and Shibuya-san..." She smiled at me. "And thank you."

"No problem, I was just doing my job." I scratched my face sheepishly. "You should be thanking Naru instead."

"I couldn't find Shibuya-san." Kuroda explained. "Please pass the message to him as well. Farewell."

"Sure, bye." I wave as Kuroda walked to school for class. When she was finally completely out of sight, I turned around and stared at the school building. Naru was still somewhere in the building checking things over.

I crawled in the van and looked through the window. Lin was inside the van sorting through Naru's notes in deep concentration. Which meant that he wouldn't notice me any time soon.

Smiling, I curled myself up in the corner of the van in a comfortable position before closing my eyes. A gentle light radiated from my body before my consciousness separated to an astral projection.

...

_Gene was sitting cross from my body in the van waiting for me, having guessed my intentions. "Gene~" I leapt at him._

_"Hey." Gene caught me with open arms. "Taking a break? Naru won't be happy."_

_"I'm done." I protested, gesturing the boxes. "The other stuff is all put away as well. I deserve a break." I dragged Gene to the old building. "Where's Naru?"_

_Gene laughed and guided me through the building. "Over there." I floated beside Naru, watching him contemplate, staring at the floor._

_"How long has he been here?" I paused. "No fair, he was spacing out while I was working!"_

_"I think Naru is calculating when the building will collapse." Gene looked around and floated to a wall. "It should be soon, considering how life has almost completely left."_

_I nodded in agreement. Since my sensing ability was very selective, I had never realized how empty this place was until I finally entered the astral plane. All of the spirits that were able to hold a form had already left, leaving small specters of light floating around. "Gene..."_

_"Yes?"_

_"... Is Naru ticklish?"_

___Gene floated beside me, holding his chin in his hand. We both pondered the question for a while. None of us had actually tried tickling Naru before. "... I am not ticklish so I would assume he isn't either." He patted me on the head. "Are you going to chart unmarked territory?"  
_

___I was very tempted to just tickle him right now since I had the perfect opportunity, however... "... I fear my life."_

___Gene agreed. "Which was why no one has ever tried before."_

___"Maybe I could convince Lin to try. It's hard to injure Lin after all."_

___"Yes, that seems to be the best option." Gene hid a smirk under his smile. "I'll 'convince' him to try."_

___I laughed. "Thanks." I opened my palm as a specter flew past, watching it vanish once it rested on my hand.  
_

___"Mai? Is something wrong?" I turned to Gene, realizing that I had been frowning._

___"No..." I closed my palm and shook my head. "It just feels very... empty here." I looked up, watching the specters float off. "Almost huh..." Following a specter with my eyes, I spun around._

___"Wait Mai-" Gene face palmed as I crashed into the desk. He floated towards me. "Are you alright?"_

___I slowly nodded, picking myself up from floor._

"Mai."

_Both Gene and I froze. We forgot that Naru was here...  
_

Naru sighed. "What are you doing? Get back to work."

_"I'm done!" I protested, raising my fist to knock and tap '_D-O-N-E_' in Morse code on the table._

I was given another sigh, this one sounding much more exasperated than the last. "Mai, wake up. We're going home." Naru walked out of the room.

* * *

I thanked the delivery man as he exited SPR. What a kind man; he even helped me put it in Naru's office.

"Good morning, Mai-san."

I turned. "John! Good morning. You sure wake up early in the morning, it's still 7."

John laughed, following me into the building. "Mai-san wakes up early as well."

"Nah, Lin's much earlier. He wakes up at 4. Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please."

...

"I wanted to show you this." John slid a newspaper in front of me and traded it for the tea.

I picked it up, reading the headlines. "The building collapsed..."

John sipped his tea. "There was no one injured, thank heavens."

I read the article very carefully, making sure that SPR or Naru was not mentioned anywhere. We had asked the principal to remain silent about us and spirits in general. It seems that the principal kept his end of the deal. I stood up. "Excuse me, John."

He nodded with a smile. I left the lounge area for Lin's office and knocked on his door twice.

Lin opened his door and let me in.

"John brought this." I handed the paper to Lin. "I don't see any issues with it."

"I see." Lin placed the paper on his desk so he could double check it later. "What were you doing earlier?" He asked, referring to the racket the delivery man and I made in Naru's office.

I beamed. "Come see."

Lin let me drag him into Naru's office, noticing the huge mirror at first glance. I could see him struggle to not openly gape. "..."

Dragging him in front of the mirror, I gestured the latches on the side. "It's a cabinet~ The mirrors can be slid open to reveal the shelves and everything. Isn't this perfect for Naru? It took me forever to get this."

"... When did you start searching?" Lin opened it and examined the well made interior. "This is custom made."

I nodded. "Of course, Naru's too 'high-classed' for mass-produced objects. I ordered the cabinet a month ago but then I decided to add mirrors on the front a week ago so it arrived a bit later."

"... Why?"

"Naru loves mirrors so of course his office needs some huge mirrors."

Lin blinked. "I meant... why did you get Naru a cabinet? Your birthday was the one that just passed."

I shook my head. "This is my birthday present from Mother, Father and everyone else in Britain."

"... Then why is it in Naru's office?"

"So Naru can put files in here easier."

Lin was not able to comprehend my logic. "Isn't it more of a present for Naru then?"

"Nope. It's for me. If Naru has more places to organize his stuff better, then it would be much easier for me to find whatever he wants when he asks me to."

"... I... see." Lin gave up. "It is a very well made cabinet. I'm sure... both you and Naru will appreciate it."

"Of course~ I'll call Britain tonight." I happily skipped out the room.

Lin stared at the cabinet once more before closing it and heading to his office.

...

I was chatting with John about Christian exorcisms when the front bell rang. Masako stepped in before I reached the door. I inwardly sweat dropped, already knowing what to expect. "Good morning, Hara-san."

Masako glanced at me. That was the only greeting I would get in return. "Is Naru in?"

"No. Naru hasn't arrived yet." I glanced at the clock. Normally, Naru would probably head down in another hour... He was terrible in the morning, after all. However he had not been following his routine recently so I had no clue when he would actually arrive. "Um... would you like to wait here for him?"

"I'll return." Glancing at me once more as a farewell, Masako turned around and walked out.

I weakly waved. "... See you."

"You remained acquainted with Hara-san?" John asked after I sat down again.

"Uh... I guess you can say that." I shrugged. "I don't know what happened actually. A few days ago, Hara-san came for the first time and asked for Naru. She's been coming everyday ever since. Maybe Naru exchanged contact information with her or something." Though that doesn't seem like something Naru would do... Especially considering how Masako was well known in Japan.

"Hara-san stops by everyday for Shibuya-san?" John repeated, surprised. "I would have thought that Hara-san did not have a lot of spare time, considering how highly she is sought for."

The front door opened once more. I walked over, blinking. "Naru? You're early again."

Naru gave me a very irritated grunt, agreeing that it was indeed way too early for him.

"You just missed Hara-san. She said she would stop by later."

I could feel Naru's growing irritation in the air. It seems like was too early for him to meet with people. "Did she say when?"

"Don't think so..." John shook his head as well in support for my claim.

Naru growled. "I'll be at home the rest of the day. We're closing early today." Naru did not even take off his jacket, instead heading straight for his office to get whatever he wanted to get.

Both John and I watched him disappear around the wall. "Naru woke up in a bad mood."

"Um... I think Hara-san caused it." John suggested. "Perhaps he doesn't want to see her today?"

"Naru doesn't like Hara-san?" I pondered about Masako. Is it because she was somewhat similar to Gene? But other than her ability, everything else was different...

"Mai." Naru suddenly appeared in front of me and dragged me into his office. "What is that?"

I blinked. "It's a cabinet." I pointed to the handles. "You can pull on here to reveal the shelves."

"Amazing, I would have never guessed." Naru deadpanned. He opened the cabinet and graced his fingers over the engravings, recognizing some figures. "It's from Britain?"

"It's my birthday present." I explained.

"I see." Naru turned and patted me on the head with a slight smile. "I'll put this to good use. Happy birthday."

I beamed back. "Thank you~" So Naru wasn't in a bad mood after all. If he was, he would have complained about the mirrors already. Then why was he irritated earlier? "Naru-"

Both of us turned to the door as the bell rang. Naru looked like he just caught himself from swearing. "Mai. Tell her I am not here." Naru walked to his window and opened it.

"Huh?" I watched as Naru slipped out the window and crept off. I've never seen Naru act this desperate before. Wait... I have. When he was being flocked by his and Gene's fans. So Masako was like a fangirl?

I walked over and closed the window just as Masako opened the door, a slightly frantic John behind her. "Naru?"

"Naru isn't here. He won't be here for the rest of the day." I walked to her. "Do you need to leave him a message?"

Masako eyed me suspiciously. "No. I will return tomorrow." She turned and walked out of SPR.

John blinked twice. "Mai-san, perhaps you should be a bit cautious around Hara-san."

"Why?"

"... It will probably be in your benefit to do so."

* * *

Author's Note:

Ahaha... I realized that I can't do an Australian accent to save my life so i just... gave up. T_T"I had no intention to make Masako seem like a crazy stalker psycho. it just somehow happened. Yeah... She won't attack Mai with knives or anything. i'm still trying to follow her characterization from the manga and anime. Key word is trying.  
the next chapter starts my original arc. after that case ends, i'll do dollhouse and alternate like that for the rest of canon. probably.  
I've also thought about swapping perspectives but i may or may not do that depending on how my next chapter turns out. The problem with first person is that there is only a limited view of the big picture so some stuff might come out as very confusing or not explained.  
Eh, i'll just experiment and see what happens i guess.  
Thank you for reading~

-1458


End file.
